Thursday, Aug 3
Some serious fog, the water is barely visible, and our coach steps are wet enough to make us think it may have rained. I had packed away the screen house and most of the chairs, thinking it might rain, and put two under the awning and slide, but they are still wet. Last night, you could feel the moisture drops in the air, almost like rain. With the water view, it looks like the world is “overexposed” when I look out the window!
Clem has gone off to visit his train friend Lou from Florida, who has a summer house here, and another train layout! I resorted to turning on the hot spot on my phone and quickly inserted what I had logged so far, minus photos, to try to keep up a bit.
Our gray water tank is also into the amber range this morning, meaning time to dump. Normally that is not any bigger an issue than going out and opening the valve! But since there is no sewer here, we have asked to have them come around with the “honey pot”, and pump our tanks! In order to conserve, Clem used their showers this morning. He does that once in a while anyway, because of course, the campground showers are larger than ours, and he enjoys that. I prefer little and mine!! At 6 in the morning, we see campers who are either tenting, or don’t have quite the amenities we do, trudging up to the bathrooms and showers, toting their towels and toiletries........I must say I do prefer “Roughing it Smoothly” as the logo on our coach proclaims!
It dawned on me yesterday, that since we only receive 3 TV stations.....one kids channel, one “create it” channel, and BBC, and can’t even get the evening news......that I might use the radio! Duh! That is, after all, what people did before TV! So I tuned in and got at least some headlines. We are so spoiled with cell phones, wifi, tv......it is rather an adjustment not to have them. Clem booked our next campground, and he said he made sure they had cable and sewer!
The plan for the day, assuming it clears, is to take a driving tour with Jim and Joan when Clem gets back from his visit. Should be fun, and I should be able to add some roadside attraction check marks to my growing list! I am up to 306, with the addition of the odd pink dinosaur at the famous 75 year old Perry’s Nut House!
I spotted Perry's Nut House, and we pulled off and checked out the 75 year old store, and some great fudge!
Home of many rotating flavors of store made fudge, fresh roasted nuts, old fashioned toys, tee shirts, and an odd assortment of stuffed animals! That would be real animals, not the fake kind. Baboon, huge sea bird, etc. Apparently more in earlier years, before the owner auctioned them all off at the store, the new owners are trying to return it to its original state.
I spotted Perry's Nut House, and we pulled off and checked out the 75 year old store, and some great fudge! 
Home of many rotating flavors of store made fudge, fresh roasted nuts, old fashioned toys, tee shirts, and an odd assortment of stuffed animals! That would be real animals, not the fake kind. Baboon, huge sea bird, etc. Apparently more in earlier years, before the owner auctioned them all off at the store, the new owners are trying to return it to its original state.
We met Jim and Joan in the afternoon, and the fog had finally lifted and we enjoyed just sitting in the sun on their front porch for a while, soaking in the rays and the view. Then Jim took us for a ride around the area, going on back roads and to places one would never know existed when visiting.
We visited Fort Point Light house, where a fort once stood, for a photo op, saw a gorgeous one time huge residence turned event center on Hershey point, and marveled at some of the extremes in residential housing on back roads, where lovely old houses contrasted with ramshackle places, littered with junk and falling down houses.
We then had dinner at one of their favorite local spots, The Brick House, in what was a bank with very unique architecture. One of the Museum in the Street plaques next to it informed us that it had been owned and run by the sea captain whose house was the main part of the museum up the street that we had visited! Cool plaques! They give you the information and old photos, and I am finding they are scattered all around the towns. In Belfast we saw an old photo on one showing circus elephants marching up the middle of Main Street. That might explain the pink elephant that adorns the roof of the old time movie cinema!
But I digress! We walked into the bank turned pub, and the bar tender called out to Jim and Joan and a friendly exchange and laughter followed. Then the waitress came.....same thing. The waitress is the bartenders mother, and Joan asked about the other son, and how was the house coming, etc. "Cheers" in real life!
Friday and some seriously heavy fog!
I had a feeling this one would never lift, but we had arranged to meet Jim and Joan for breakfast and some exploration, so we set out layered up, hoping the sun would shine!
We had breakfast at” Just Barbs”, where the waitress met us with a friendly greeting, and knew what Jim and Joan would be ordering to drink! That Cheers feeling again.......where everybody knows your name!
Our ride took us first to Bucksport, and a stop at an old cemetery where Colonel Buck's tomb is the main attraction, and bears the mark of a leg and foot, said to be that of a woman who threatened to haunt him after he had her burned at a stake for being a witch, and her leg rolled out of the fire! Most likely just the grain in the granite, and no evidence has ever been found of witch burning in Maine, but it made a great story, and provided another check mark on my list of roadside attractions!
Next stop, a detour to Dykes lighthouse, at the end of a street, and fronted by the keepers home! I felt pretty funny going into the back yard and waved to the elderly gentleman on the back porch, as we made our way to a rocky trail leading down a hill, through woods and to a steep stairway down to the waterline! Of course, we had to go down for a closer look, and Jim had to get our photo coming back up....so I took his taking ours!
Our ride took us first to Bucksport, and a stop at an old cemetery where Colonel Buck's tomb is the main attraction, and bears the mark of a leg and foot, said to be that of a woman who threatened to haunt him after he had her burned at a stake for being a witch, and her leg rolled out of the fire! Most likely just the grain in the granite, and no evidence has ever been found of witch burning in Maine, but it made a great story, and provided another check mark on my list of roadside attractions!
Next stop, a detour to Dykes lighthouse, at the end of a street, and fronted by the keepers home! I felt pretty funny going into the back yard and waved to the elderly gentleman on the back porch, as we made our way to a rocky trail leading down a hill, through woods and to a steep stairway down to the waterline! Of course, we had to go down for a closer look, and Jim had to get our photo coming back up....so I took his taking ours!
Next stop Castine, one of the oldest communities in North America, occupied continuously since the 1600s, and one of the most contested chunks of property in New England, changing hands nine times!
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| A Catholic chapel, a rarity in Maine |
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| In the harbor, by T/S State of Maine, the floating classroom |
Owned by the French, Dutch, British, and eventually Americans, plaques around town tell the history, and a walking map shows where some of the more famous inhabitants lived, including a poet laureate and several authors. The Maine Maritime Academy, founded in 1941, owns several homes, and uses the 1952 decommissioned ship T/S State of Maine in the harbor as a floating classroom.
A detour led us to Deer Isle, all the way to the southern tip, to the small but charming town of Stonington. A statue in the quickly becoming fog filled harbor stood in recognition to the men who mined and cut the granite for all the piers and bridges from the readily available stone....and hence the name, I would suspect! An ice cream store beckoned....of course! I have never in my life seen so many ice cream stands! So we decided on a late lunch.....linner.... later, and had a snack of ice cream to sustain us through our tour!
Here comes the fog!
Blue Hill is listed in my book 1000 Places to See Before you Die,.....which Clem has threatened to burn......so that was the next stop. While cute, I was not sure why it was listed, while Castine, with its rich history and lovely homes was not! Apparently for the Music Hall and the largest lending library of sheet music in the world. Who knew there was a lending library for sheet music?? Not exactly apparent driving through, I did, however, take note of the funny name of the music center, and discovered later that that was it! Should have taken the book with me!
Further up the road, however, in East Blue Hill, I saw the most amazing photo op as we crossed a bridge, so we found a place to pull off and take advantage. Such a beautiful spot, I’m thinking it might be framable!
Back to Bucksport for that late lunch. A full fun day of exploring, and we were all tired and ready to call it a day.
